Such kinds of pivotal manipulation type writing instruments are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2007-276365 and 2009-018498. Each of the pivotal manipulation type writing instruments disclosed in these patent documents includes movable bodies having writing elements, a container main body for housing the movable bodies with the writing elements being capable of ejecting and retracting, biasing means for urging the writing elements to be always drawn into the container main body, a pivotable body having one end combined with the container main body and pivotably supported by the container main body, and writing element ejecting means for ejecting one of the writing elements from the container main body to a use state by means of the movable body in conjunction with the pivotal movement of the pivotable body.
The writing element ejecting means includes a cam surface formed on the rear end of the movable body and a pin provided in the pivotable body. The pin is moved to operate the cam surface by pivoting the pivotable body relative to the container main body by 180° in the left or right direction so that the movable bodies can be selectively moved to the writing element ejecting direction to eject the corresponding writing element from the container main body. On the contrary, the writing element can be retracted into the container main body by pivoting the pivotable body in the opposite direction.
However, in the pivotal manipulation type writing instrument of the related art, the pivotable body can be pivoted only by 180° in the left or right direction. In addition, since the pivotable body is moved only in a single direction to retract the ejected writing element, it is necessary for a user to consider the pivoting direction for manipulation, which is cumbersome.